China students with diplomas from private schools in Australia may face the risk that their diplomas will not be recognized when they return to China to apply for civil servants, institutions or large state-owned enterprises.

The Ministry of Education published the list of more than 1000 schools in 33 major countries where China citizens study through the Education Foreign Supervision Information Network of the Ministry of Education and the China Study Abroad Network. In this list, only Australian universities and institutions of higher learning and public technical and continuing education colleges are involved. Various private institutions and language schools are not among them.

All institutions and courses in Australia that recruit overseas students must be approved by the Australian federal government and obtain CRICOS (namely Commonwealth Overseas Student Institutions and Courses Registration, meaning "Federal Registration of Institutions and Courses that Recruit Overseas Students") number.

For students, if the school or course they attend has no CRICOS number, it means that they are not recognized and are not qualified to recruit overseas students at all. Such institutions are naturally not qualified to issue diplomas to international students.

Once international students from China enter such private schools, their graduation certificates will not be recognized, which will cause great trouble in employment. Therefore, before studying in an Australian institution, China students must know whether the institution has been audited and approved by the Australian federal government.